El proceso de laicización de los hospitales en la capital del reino de Guatemala (XVI-XIX)

The articletraces the painful history of hospitals in the capital of the Kingdom of Guatemala,a story that leaves no doubt about the limitations ofthe policy of charitable assistance topoor patientsin the early daysof the colonial era. The workis centered on thepoint at whichthe Order of StJohn ofGod which had beenthe main actor in the health care activity, despite Bourbon legislation restrictingits powers gradually is replaced by a board of charity associated more clearly the secular world to the fate of these centers will be improved.The text examines both important aspects of the functioning of hospitals, including Belen Hospital San Juan de Dios in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, it has certain elements afferent to the budget, the cost to the hospital patients and employees and emphasizes the relative neglect of the notable ones toward the hospital system that condemned him to be a mere prelude to death